How Your Antibacterial Soap Is Poisoning The Water Supply

Our parents told, so did the teachers at school and even models in advertisements keep telling us to use the antibacterial soap every time to stay healthy. In many ways, this is true and using antibacterial soaps and other products helps us kill germs that might make us sick. But have you spared a thought to the water that you use to wash off your antibacterial soap? Where does that go? What does it do? What else does it kill?

The team at Grist dug in their heels to find out what happens to the water that goes down our drains. It turns out that all such water is taken to a sewage treatment plant and treated to remove grease, soaps and poisonous chemicals. But the triclosan and triclocarban that most anti-bacterial products contain are not separated here and are often sent into our water bodies where they are either used for agriculture or sent into the oceans, where they are taken up by fishes.

Either ways, these products make their way up the food chain, often collecting in large amounts and are finally aiming for us, the humans. Check this infographic for more information on how this actually happens.